The Ritual Bath

I'm always happy when the first book in a series is good because then I'm excited to start reading the next book in the series. So on to the next one for sure.

I like Peter and Rina. Peter is not really so hard-boiled, but he's tough, yet caring, and he's a good detective to boot. Rina is a younger woman, perhaps even too innocent in her thinking, and that gets her into some trouble.

The author mixes a lot of Jewish culture and historical tidbits in for the reader, and that's great. I love learning while reading, and it seems like a lot of mysteries aren't really aimed at teaching the reader.

The majority of this book is not spent on solving the crime, however. It is a lot of back story that will provide information for the future novels in the series. Although likely not necessary to read first, I'm glad I started at the beginning. The relationship between Peter and Rina is presented as rocky at best, it's not a predictable romance at all.

Also, there are several red herrings, and no real way to guess the culprit. I'm hoping the reader is provided with more substantial clues and guesswork in the other books in the series.

I did have a difficult time with some of the passages in the book, they were very violent, and one was full of racial slurs that made me flinch, but I imagine that was purposeful by the author.